Sudden Gear Slipping After Fluid Change (Emergency?)

[Joshw0000]

I regretfully initially brought the car back to the Lincoln dealership, just to make sure they washed their hands of any fault. Fully intending on bringing it to my desired transmission shop anyway unless the issue was insanely minor, I am still in disbelief that after roughly a morning of looking at it, the receptionist relayed that the tech said it'd be $10k total, with only $1700 in labor. When I asked what went wrong the receptionist didn't know, but said something related to flushing coolant lines. I asked what exactly was diagnosed as failing, and she said she'd have an answer for me once he got back from lunch...it's been two hours...
Obviously there is no universe where I'll be paying that much for a new transmission. My first instinct is to take that price as a "screw you, I don't want to work on it" price, but paired with how the transmission went literally the day after a supposed PTU fluid change, I'm starting to get really nervous that something funny is going on at this dealership, and I can't help but think maybe something is at play that I'm not being told here...regardless, I'm getting my car out of that stealership as soon as possible.

Sorry this is happening to you. I had a few similar instances at my local stealership which is why I'll never go back for labor.

I bought a S/C '07 GT from the dealership and traded in a car. OTW home 2 lights came on (CEL & charging system). I immediately turned around and demanded my car back. They insisted I could drive a loaner and they'd fix it. When I got it back, they'd replaced the alternator and 'fixed' the CEL. The car didn't feel as fast but I couldn't be sure since I'd only test driven it once. Shortly after I get a new CEL for failed cats and through a lot of money and headache I learned that they'd flashed the stock tune so the car was getting more fuel then it needed and was dumping the rest down the exhaust. That ended up costing me a new set of catted X pipes (same price as new cats) and a new custom tune.

Next issue was with my wife's brand new '17 Explorer. We brought it in because the A/C belt was squeaking when the AC was turned on. They told me they can't find a squeak but they figured out why the temps were wrong (they weren't). The tech shorted out the sensor in the evaporator assembly and they quoted me $1800 to replace it. At the time (and still maybe to this day), you couldn't buy the $30 sensor. You had to buy the whole thing which required disassembling the entire dash to replace it. I ended telling them to F off, bought the entire assembly elsewhere (still like $500+) and had my mechanic swap sensors. It's working fine to this day.

You'll be hard pressed to get them to admit fault. Since the car isn't stock, they'll always point the finger at that. Your best bet is to get it back and never go back unless you need a part that can't be sourced elsewhere.

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[Jordan_R]

Food for thought but when you take the PTU off the transmission it will leak transmission fluid so if they don't check level and top off you would be low on fluid.

 

[WarrenBoostit]

Sorry this is happening to you. I had a few similar instances at my local stealership which is why I'll never go back for labor.

I bought a S/C '07 GT from the dealership and traded in a car. OTW home 2 lights came on (CEL & charging system). I immediately turned around and demanded my car back. They insisted I could drive a loaner and they'd fix it. When I got it back, they'd replaced the alternator and 'fixed' the CEL. The car didn't feel as fast but I couldn't be sure since I'd only test driven it once. Shortly after I get a new CEL for failed cats and through a lot of money and headache I learned that they'd flashed the stock tune so the car was getting more fuel then it needed and was dumping the rest down the exhaust. That ended up costing me a new set of catted X pipes (same price as new cats) and a new custom tune.

Next issue was with my wife's brand new '17 Explorer. We brought it in because the A/C belt was squeaking when the AC was turned on. They told me they can't find a squeak but they figured out why the temps were wrong (they weren't). The tech shorted out the sensor in the evaporator assembly and they quoted me $1800 to replace it. At the time (and still maybe to this day), you couldn't buy the $30 sensor. You had to buy the whole thing which required disassembling the entire dash to replace it. I ended telling them to F off, bought the entire assembly elsewhere (still like $500+) and had my mechanic swap sensors. It's working fine to this day.

You'll be hard pressed to get them to admit fault. Since the car isn't stock, they'll always point the finger at that. Your best bet is to get it back and never go back unless you need a part that can't be sourced elsewhere.

Sent from my Pixel 8 Pro using Tapatalk

What an actual nightmare. I'm fairly adverse to dealerships for most things, but I've wrongfully assumed twice now they would be able to diagnose an issue I didn't have the knowledge to diagnose, seems they prefer to shotgun it and move onto the next car.

Food for thought but when you take the PTU off the transmission it will leak transmission fluid so if they don't check level and top off you would be low on fluid.

I'm not familiar with the PTU refill process, would it have to be removed to refill it?

 

[Texas Marauder]

I'm not familiar with the PTU refill process, would it have to be removed to refill it?

No.

 

[TTSHO]

I regretfully initially brought the car back to the Lincoln dealership, just to make sure they washed their hands of any fault. Fully intending on bringing it to my desired transmission shop anyway unless the issue was insanely minor, I am still in disbelief that after roughly a morning of looking at it, the receptionist relayed that the tech said it'd be $10k total, with only $1700 in labor. When I asked what went wrong the receptionist didn't know, but said something related to flushing coolant lines. I asked what exactly was diagnosed as failing, and she said she'd have an answer for me once he got back from lunch...it's been two hours...
Obviously there is no universe where I'll be paying that much for a new transmission. My first instinct is to take that price as a "screw you, I don't want to work on it" price, but paired with how the transmission went literally the day after a supposed PTU fluid change, I'm starting to get really nervous that something funny is going on at this dealership, and I can't help but think maybe something is at play that I'm not being told here...regardless, I'm getting my car out of that stealership as soon as possible.

No offense, and i wish ya the best of luck with your car but why would you take your car to any mechanic for something as simple as RDU, PTU fluid. Not trying to talk shit or act like some super mechanic like youll see alot online but its an SHO. A ford at that. If you aren't doing basic maintenance yourself for free, sell it. Techs at most shops now days are kids living with their parents still and all the experience is sitting at a desk answering phones and watching tik tok. Welcome to 2024. Put lucas in the trans and sell it to carvana.

 

[WarrenBoostit]

No offense, and i wish ya the best of luck with your car but why would you take your car to any mechanic for something as simple as RDU, PTU fluid. Not trying to talk shit or act like some super mechanic like youll see alot online but its an SHO. A ford at that. If you aren't doing basic maintenance yourself for free, sell it. Techs at most shops now days are kids living with their parents still and all the experience is sitting at a desk answering phones and watching tik tok. Welcome to 2024. Put lucas in the trans and sell it to carvana.

Typically I would do most anything with my dad, but currently we have his gen 2 bronco we're putting a coyote in on his lift and it isn't going anywhere soon.

 

[TTSHO]

Typically I would do most anything with my dad, but currently we have his gen 2 bronco we're putting a coyote in on his lift and it isn't going anywhere soon.

You can do the rdu in your driveway with no jack. Its easy access. For the ptu, get about 3 ft of 3/8 extensions and stick it through the passenger side wheel to loosen the plug. Jack up driver side slightly to get underneath, pump out, pump in, ect.

I think these cars have alot of electrical things that can spazz out and make ya think you have actual mechanical problems. If your trans was fine then suddenly wasn't... id look for what the computer is telling ya. TC dont just fail in a day. But also, someone else touched your car so id check all the work they did. Check the trans drain plug to see if maybe a "tech" accidentally thought that was the procedure. There's seriously some clowns out there working on cars lol. My gf just had a wheel come off on the interstate because of a dealership tire rotation. Its in court now and turns out the tech who did it was on 5 job as a "mechanic" lol

Hope ya get it figured out.